1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to barrier ribs of a plasma display panel and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background
Generally, a plasma display panel (PDP) displays images using gas discharge to generate ultraviolet rays, which excite phosphors to emit visible light. The PDP may be made with a screen that is greater than 60 inches, and it may be less than 10 centimeters (cm) thick. Additionally, since the PDP is self-emissive, like a cathode ray tube (CRT), it exhibits satisfactory color reproduction undistorted by viewing angle.
Furthermore, its manufacturing process is simpler than that of a liquid crystal display (LCD). Hence, the PDP may be easier and cheaper to produce than an LCD. Accordingly, the PDP is experiencing increasing popularity.
While many PDP structures have been suggested, a three-electrode surface discharge PDP is a very common structure. A three-electrode surface discharge PDP includes a first substrate having a pair of electrodes, a second substrate spaced apart from the first substrate and having address electrodes, and a plurality of discharge cells defined by barrier ribs between the first and second substrates.
Known techniques for forming a PDP's barrier ribs include a screen printing method, a sand blast method, and so on.
With the screen printing method, a patterned screen is placed on a substrate with a predetermined gap maintained between the screen and the substrate. A barrier rib substance is then compressed, transferred and printed on the substrate in a desired pattern. The screen printing method, however, involves a complicated process to acquire a barrier rib having a height dimension as requested in a PDP.
With the sand blast method, rib paste is coated on a substrate and an abrasive is then sprayed thereon, thereby forming the barrier ribs having a predetermined pattern. More specifically, forming the barrier ribs includes coating a rib paste on an entire surface of a substrate to form a barrier rib layer, laminating resist on the barrier rib layer, patterning the resist through photo-exposure and developing processes, removing the exposed rib paste by applying an abrasive, removing the resist, and annealing the rib paste forming the barrier rib pattern.
As described above, conventional methods for manufacturing barrier ribs involve several processing steps, thereby complicating the process and reducing manufacturing efficiency.
A PDP has a display region and a non-display region, and image display substantially occurs in the display region. The non-display region, where images are not displayed, encompasses a dummy region and terminal regions connecting electrodes within the PDP and external terminals. Dummy cells are arranged in the dummy region. The dummy region structurally supports the discharge cells formed in the display region so that they may have substantially uniform discharge or emissive characteristics.
Accordingly, a PDP that optimizes a barrier rib in the dummy region is needed.